Architect Sam Tisdall of London, England, UK, designed an addition to a two-story home in Chiswick, London. Located in a leafy conservation area backing onto Chiswick House Gardens, the 1920s suburban villa now features a contemporary extension and altered layout. The 80-square-meter (860-square-foot) addition brings the total gross internal floor area to 200 square meters (2,200 square feet).

The new structure is hidden at the rear of the house, almost invisible from the street. The architect's design has opened up the existing small-scale segregated spaces adjoining the garden. A new kitchen and extended living room form an S-shaped living space, with large sliding doors opening onto a deck. The addition features oak windows, and cladding of glass-reinforced concrete panels in five shades of gray, arranged in a vertical gradient from dark to light.

Upstairs, a frameless glass box at the end of the second-floor corridor acts as a solar collector, providing hot air to other rooms by means of a heat-recovery system. The box also facilitates daylighting and provides views across the green roof and garden into the trees beyond. Other sustainable design measures include extensive insulation, solar water heating, photovoltaic cells, and water reuse for irrigation.

Completed in February 2011, the project was designed in collaboration with Ramses Frederickx of London.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, has opened in Dallas, Texas. The cable-stayed steel bridge carries six lanes of traffic across the Trinity River, connecting the West Dallas/ North Oak Cliff area with downtown Dallas.

A single white, arched pylon supports the steel-framed deck via cable stays, enabling the use of a light, efficient deck system. The slender pylon is a closed steel box with internal diaphragms, stiffeners, and anchorages for the cables. The central box girder acts as a spine and contributes greatly to the torsional rigidity of the system, which allows the cables to anchor along the center line of the 1,206-foot- (368-meter-) long bridge.

The bridge provides no pedestrian or bicycle access. It is designed for motor vehicle use exclusively.

This is the first in a series of bridges designed by Calatrava's office to span the Trinity River. Work continues on the design of a new sister bridge farther along the basin as part of a scheme for replacing Interstate 30.

ORMS has secured planning permission for a new science building at Uppingham School in Uppingham, UK. Image: Courtesy ORMS Extra Large Image

Uppingham · 2012.0227

Architecture and interior design firm ORMS of London, England, United Kingdom, has secured planning permission for a new science building at Uppingham School in Uppingham, England. In keeping with the client's vision of fostering cross-disciplinary connections, the firm has designed an L-shaped building that forms a quadrangle with existing buildings, and that includes spaces for schoolwide use. Informed by the existing quad, which is located at the heart of the historic town center, the new quad will be the focus for the school's expanding western campus.

The 5,125-square-meter (55,170-square-foot) science building will comprise three complementary volumes. A three-story lab-and-classroom wing will form the western block. The southern wing, housing the public and school-life functions, will feature a precast concrete colonnade fronting a glazed screen to the lecture hall. The third volume — a bold, cube-shaped "jewel box" — will sit on top of the southern wing and provide an outdoor classroom, an eco-lab, and a triple-height atrium that will house both scientific artifacts and works of art. It will be clad in anodized aluminum panels to complement the local ironstone color, and will cantilever over the entrance.

ORMS adopted Passivhaus principles for the design, making use of existing sustainable technologies on campus, including combined heat and power and a water conservation system.

The firm also recently completed the school's sports center and in 2007 completed its music school.

Architect Moritz Theden designed the adaptation of a former palace into the new Great Getaway Medina in Marrakech, Morocco. Photo: Courtesy Design Hotels Extra Large Image

Marrakech · 2012.0228

The Great Getaway Medina opened in January in central Marrakech, Morocco. Owners Christian and Ina Krug worked with German architect Moritz Theden to convert a traditional Moroccan riad into an intimate six-room hotel. Located in the city's historic Sidi Ben Slimane quarter, the palace has been painstakingly refurbished to preserve its traditional architectural style, and is filled with furnishings handmade by local craftsmen from the souk that surrounds the property.

Guests enter through the grand circular courtyard, with its carved columns and arches, star-shaped fountain, and sheer white curtains. Interior walls are plastered in the Tadelakt style, and the public spaces are dotted with alcoves and stone fireplaces. A 300-square-meter (3,200-square-foot) rooftop terrace provides panoramic views over the Koutoubia Mosque and Atlas Mountains.

Each of the four rooms and two suites is named after a fragrance: lavender, mint, saffron, pomegranate, cinnamon, and ginger. With colors such as such as desert sand and Majorelle Blue, the design palette relates to the colors of the city.